THE CAVE
Based on Plato's Allegory in Book 7 of the RepublicMusic by Dennis Merrill
Text and sound arrangements by Jorn K. Bramann

The text of Plato's Allegory:

Ignorance, living in the dark, the lack of adequate education-compare that
to the following situation.

What situation?

Imagine people who live in a vast underground cave. Some have lived there since
childhood, and they are chained in such a way that they can look only in one
direction. They look at a wall on which there are shadows moving. Behind and
above them a fire is burning, and in front of the fire operators move objects.
The shadows of the objects are cast on the wall.

I see.

The objects moved in front of the fire are imitations of things, animals, and
people. The prisoners see the shadows of the imitations on the wall they are
facing. Some operators are talking while moving the objects.

Strange images, and strange prisoners, these.

They are like us, or like many of us. Now tell me: Can the prisoners ever see
themselves, or each other? Can they see anything except the shadows cast on
the wall they are facing?

Not if they have been forced since childhood to look in only one direction.

Can they ever see the objects themselves that are carried in front of the fire?

No. The shadows of the objects are all they ever see.

And if the prisoners could talk to each other, and if they could give names
to what they see, wouldn't they think they are naming real objects?

They would.

And what if the cave had an echo coming from the wall the prisoners are facing,
don't you think that the prisoners would take the shadows to be talking?

They most certainly would.

All right then, prisoners like that would undoubtedly believe that what they
see is real, and that mere shadows are reality, wouldn't they?

By the dog of Egypt, they would.

[Commercial television noises. Guitar solo emerging from the cacophony.]

But what would happen if the prisoners were set free, and thus cured from their
delusions? Take any prisoner who is released from his chains and suddenly forced
to stand up, turn around his head, walk, and look at the light. Obviously he
will be in pain when he does all this, and he will be unable to see clearly
those things whose shadows he saw earlier, because he is blinded by the glare
of the light.

It will not seem to be enlightenment to him.

What do you think he would say if he were told that what he had seen before
was nonsense and illusion? And that what he was seeing now was real? And if
someone pointed out to him the passing objects individually, and asked him questions
as to what they are, don't you think the former prisoner would be at a loss?
Would he not think that the shadows he used to see are more real than the things
pointed out to him now?

Much more real.

And if he were forced to look directly at the light, wouldn't his eyes feel
such pain that he would turn back toward the things which he could see clearly,
and be convinced that they are clearer and more distinct than the new things
shown to him now?

It's just as you say.

And if he were forcibly dragged up the steep and rugged ascent to the entrance
of the cave, and then out into the light of day, would he not be terribly irritated
and upset? And after coming into the light, wouldn't his eyes be so filled with
the rays of the sun that he wouldn't see any of the things that we know to be
real?

For a while he wouldn't see a thing.

He would have to get used to the light before he could see anything outside
the cave.

At first it would be easier for him to see the shadows, then the reflections
of people and other beings in water, and only in the end the things themselves.
After that he could go on and contemplate the things in the sky, seeing more
easily the light in the stars and the moon by night, and then the sunlight by
day.

Naturally.

And at last he would see the sun as it is in itself-the real thing in its proper
setting?

Necessarily.

In time he would come to the conclusion that it is the sun that produces the
seasons and the years, that it is the guardian of all things in the realm of
the visible, and that in a certain way it is the ultimate cause of all the things
that he and his fellow prisoners had seen in the cave.

Yes, that's what eventually he would conclude.

[Guitar solo.]

What would happen next? Don't you think that the former prisoner would count
himself fortunate because of the changes, and that he would feel sorry for his
former fellow prisoners?

I am sure he would.

And if there had been honors and prizes among the prisoners which they awarded
to that man among them who was quickest in discerning the shadows as they passed
by, and best at remembering the sequence in which they were routinely carried
past the fire, and so was the most adept at predicting which shadow would come
next-do you think the freed prisoner would want to have those prizes? Would
he be envious of those honored in this way? Would he be desirous of that sort
of authority?

I doubt it very much. Who wants to be the chief of troglodytes?

And if a former prisoner would go down and take his old seat again, wouldn't
the sudden change from sunlight to darkness cause him to be rather blind?

Quite.

And if he had to compete once more with the troglodytes for those prizes, wouldn't
he not quickly become the laughingstock of the others? Wouldn't they not say
that he had ruined his eyes above ground?

Surely they would.

And would they not swear that the best way to be is staying in the cave?

They would indeed.

And if they were able to seize and kill the man who attempted to free them
and lead them out of the cave, would they not do just that?